Of Rokkaku and Hot Pink Sneakers
by All4thebasilisk
Summary: When the Rokkaku boys find a pair of hot pink sneakers, much chaos ensues...


A/N: I wrote this just to get over my prejudice against Rokkaku. Why are they so unlikable/unremarkable as a team, anyway? When I was writing the character lists for I tried to only include characters that a lot of people wrote about, and Rokkaku had one of the smallest amounts of team members on the list. I couldn't even remember Shudou's name when I was writing this! I think that writing this has actually helped me warm up to Rokkaku, though, so I guess that I accomplished my goal!

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It all started with a pair of shoes.

Itsuki found them first. "Nande? Why are the shoes pink?" he wondered. He picked them up. After all, someone could trip and fall on them...

He brought them with him to practice that afternoon, intending to ask around about the shoes.

Unfortunately, he left them on the side of the court. Where Ryou found them.

"Hn. Pink shoes. Weird." Not very talkative on a good day, Ryou just stared at the shoes instead, challenging them to do something. Since they were shoes, of course, nothing happened. Ryou glared at them for a long time.

Eventually, Shudou, Davide, and Bane wandered over. "What's with the shoes?"

Ryou frowned. "Pink."

Davide snorted. "How annoying. Shoo! Pfft."

Bane kicked him in the head.

"Well, what are we going to do with them?" Shudou wondered.

"Are they someone in the tennis club's?" Bane asked

"They're too big to belong to one of the little kids."

"Itsuki was in this corner earlier. Maybe they're his?"

"It's key that they're Itsuki's. Pfft! … Ow."

"Not his. Pink too ugly." "Should we make an announcement?"

"It's probably a public service to burn them instead. They're hideous!"

The four stopped talking for a moment to stare down at the shoes. The sneakers were hot pink, as you all know by now, and had long, neon green shoelaces decorated with tiny green polka dots. The actual shoes were almost brand new and neatly reflected the light of the sun.

"Hn."

"Ick."

"Weird."

Bane kicked Davide before he even said the pun he had already thought up.

"Well, let's get them away from the courts, at least," Bane decided.

"I'm going to the beach today with Davide and Ryou," Shudou informed him. "I'll bring them with us."

"No." Ryou glared at the shoes for another minute. "Ugly."

"Hot pink is hot on the hot beach. Pfft!"

"Aoi, Saeki, and I are staying late. I could bring them to the lost and found in school," Bane offered, kicking Davide.

Eventually, the four agreed and continued their practice. Ryou and Shudou challenged Bane and Davide to a match, they lost miserably, Ryou screamed at Shudou for a while about how worthless he was compared to Atsushi, Ryou and the third-years sat around discussing the good old days before Atsushi left, and finally, everyone collapsed of exhaustion (Except for Aoi, who was swinging around a racket and challenging everyone he saw to a match, but hey- Aoi didn't really figure into their calculations.). An ordinary day, really.

Finally, Ryou, Davide, and Shudou headed for the beach, Itsuki went to the mall to annoy the woman at the information booth, and all the little kids dispersed.

"I can't believe I failed the math test," Saeki grumbled. "You, Bane, I can understand. But me? I'm smart! You're the stupid one!"

"Thanks," Bane said sarcastically. He turned to their freshman captain. "How about you, Aoi? What did you fail?"

**"I DIDN'T FAIL!"** Aoi announced. **"I JUST MISSED THE TEST!"**

"Why?" Saeki demanded. "You have a perfect attendance record."

**"WELL, YOU KNOW HOW I DO GREAT UNDER PRESSURE?"**

"Unfortunately," Bane muttered.

**"SO I GOT THE TEST AND WAITED TILL THE TEST WAS ALMOST OVER TO START, BUT…"**

"But?" Saeki inquired, intrigued.

Aoi looked embarrassed and lowered his voice. "I WAITED TOO LONG…"

Saeki laughed. "Let's go to the test retake room."

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Bane held up a bag. "We have to put this in the lost and found."

"Oh?" Saeki smirked.

"What is it?" He looked inside, and his smile widened.

"No, don't put them there. I have a better idea…"

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It was the next day, and the whole tennis team was in an uproar. Shudou was frantically running from person to person, trying to find out the cause of the commotion. Itsuki ran around asking everyone why this was happening. Repeatedly. Davide stood on the side, punning as always. Bane alternated between kicking Davide in the head and explaining himself to Ryou, who was so disturbed he was confined to one-syllable words. Ojii raised a finger to point toward the crowd in confusion. Saeki stood among the group of laughing players, smirking and self-satisfied.

And in the center of the commotion stood Aoi, proudly wearing the pink shoes… and a hot pink outfit to match.


End file.
